Few highs for drug busters
Drugs agencies expect a surge in drug supplies from the North
- Published: 3/02/2010 at 12:00 AM
- Newspaper section: News
Drug agencies are warning of a massive influx of methamphetamines into Thailand despite the recent hauls which have netted almost 4 million pills.
Narcotics Suppression Bureau (NSB) officers seized 3.66 million speed pills, or ya ba, from Thursday to Sunday in separate raids in Bangkok and Samut Prakan.
The haul was the agency's biggest in recent operations. And it expects more to come.
"Now they're [drugs] back again," said NSB deputy commander Harnpol Nitwibul. "They are everywhere and the problem is unstoppable."
The Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB), another agency tasked with cracking down on illicit drugs, and army officials responsible for the North where many of the drugs enter the country echoed Pol Maj Gen Harnpol's views.
"What we've just seen is only the tip of the iceberg," said Permpong Chaovalit, deputy director-general of the ONCB's head office in Bangkok.
"Many more drugs, especially methamphetamines, are waiting to be trafficked through the North to Bangkok.
"The ya ba situation is getting worse. Now we are on the defensive."
A source at the ONCB's northern branch, based in Chiang Mai, said an influx of drugs across the border from Burma was expected to reach Thailand's northern provinces on Chinese New Year's day, Feb 14.
Bangkok is the main destination for most of the drugs.
The ONCB said 285 of 850 districts nationwide were being targetted by drugs authorities.
Drug abuse and the trade in drugs in those areas account for about 75% of all the country's drug-related problems.
The worst districts are in Bangkok, followed by the central and northern regions.
To try to prevent the drug trade from spreading, each targetted district has been instructed to set up checkpoints on roads around the clock in an attempt to catch drug users and traffickers.
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has said he was worried by last week's methamphetamine seizures.
Acting national police chief Pateep Tanprasert and Pol Maj Gen Harnpol were summoned to Government House on Monday to report on the three days of raids.
At the meeting, the prime minister gave his full support for the crackdown and said he was ready to give drugs agencies more money to continue their clamp down on the trade, Pol Maj Gen Harnpol said.
Burma is the biggest supplier of methamphetamines to Thailand, according to drugs agencies.
Most production plants are located just across the border from Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and Mae Hong Son.
Armed ethnic groups in Burma are using the drugs trade as a quick source of income to buy weapons to fight the Burmese army, agencies say.
Clashes are expected to increase amid fears that Burmese government forces are planning a major offensive in the run up to this year's general elections.
"We have obtained information that ethnic minority groups inside Burma are speeding up their drugs production so they can earn more money to buy new weapons to fight Burmese soldiers," Mr Permpong said.
Burma's ruling State Peace and Development Council has not yet announced the date of the election.
Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said yesterday in Geneva that the polls could be held in the second half of this year.
In addition to Burma's insurgents, the pro-junta United Wa State Army is believed to be a major supplier of drugs under its leader, Wei Hseuh-kang, according to the ONCB's northern office.
The NSB, ONCB, border patrol police and Pha Muang Task Force said they were closely monitoring drug traffickers from Burma.
The ONCB is cooperating with its Burmese counterparts to keep a close watch on drug production along the border.
The main trafficking routes pass through 14 districts in the three northern border provinces of Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and Mae Hong Song, said Pornthep Eamprapai, director of the ONCB's northern office.
The region's geography and porous borders made it difficult to effectively police all of the routes, Pol Maj Gen Harnpol said.
"The border areas are reinforced by soldiers, but ya ba is still smuggled into the country," he said.
"Nowadays it does not enter the northern region alone. It also comes through the western border and to the Northeast through Laos."
Col Prakarn Chonlayuth, commander of the Pha Muang Task Force based in the North, voiced serious concerns over the growing local demand for drugs.
"Authorities have confiscated huge amounts of drugs, especially in the North, but the traffickers do not give up," he said.
A source at the ONCB office in Chiang Mai said rail services have long been exploited by drug smugglers to transport drugs from the northern border down to areas such as Bangkok.
The absence of checkpoints along the track and a lack of rail staff to search passengers' belongings make the system an efficient trafficking route, the source said.
"It is not convenient to conduct a train search because you have to disrupt the whole train, and the drugs are smuggled in small packages," he said. "The smugglers can throw away the packages and have them picked up later if they get wind of a search."
About the author
- Writer: Wassayos Ngamkham, Anucha Charoenpo and Subin Khuenkaew
